Newsmaker of the week: SUNY

The State University of New York system finally got some of the flexibility it had been fighting for this week when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the NYSUNY 2020 legislation that, among other things, allows for “rational” tuition increases at state schools.

The legislation also creates the NYSUNY 2020 Grant Challenge Program, putting up $140 million for SUNY schools that create long-term economic and academic plans to boost business and grow jobs in the state, but it most importantly lets research institutions like Stony Brook University raise their tuition. While it will increase costs for students, a tuition hike will boost revenue and allow the schools to avoid budget cuts.

Under the new law, each SUNY and CUNY campus can raise tuition $300 annually for five years, replacing a practice of what Cuomo described as “sudden tuition increases with a system that is predictable and empowers students and parents to plan for college expenses.”

The law also lets schools dubbed “university centers,” including SUNY Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook, impose an additional 3 percent increase – including a $75 fee and up to 10 percent for out-of-state students – annually for five years.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher won a huge battle in wrestling tuition rates out of the hands of the state Legislature considering that institution’s history of dysfunction. Case in point: New York state judges have not received a raise for a dozen years now in part because the Legislature is tasked with setting their salaries.

Even though tuition will rise for SUNY students, going to a state school in New York is still a bargain compared to private schools in the region. The annual tuition for an in-state student attending Stony Brook University is currently $6,578, while at $31,800 tuition at Hofstra University is nearly five times more.